2024 Fall Retreat: Cutting Fear and Attachment: The Practice of Chöd in Kathmandu, Nepal

Cutting Fear and Attachment: The Practice of Chöd
Including a pilgrimage to Triten Norbutse Monastery
October 9-14, 2024
Kathmandu, Nepal

Join Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche in Nepal! For the first time in 25 years, Rinpoche returns to offer a retreat in Kathmandu, a city steeped in many ancient spiritual traditions and cultures, including Yungdrung Bön. This retreat will include 5 days of teachings on the practice of chöd and a pilgrimage to the great Bön monastery, Triten Norbutse. 

Chöd is a skillful method for transforming the fear, aversion and attachment that obscure our true nature, and with it the qualities of love, compassion, joy and equanimity that exist in all sentient beings. These afflictions give rise to illness, depression, anxiety, addiction, self-recrimination and become our “demons”, driving us toward suffering after suffering. When we nurture the sources of our pain with compassion, we discover the empty nature of our inner enemies and transform them into wisdom. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche will teach us to meet our challenging emotions and experiences, not with anger and judgment, but with a warm embrace, and reconnect to the natural state: open, awake, and fearless. 

The retreat will present the chöd text composed by the famous Bönpo dzogchen master Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen Rinpoche, who attained the rainbow body in 1934 at the age of 75. Traditionally, parts of the text are sung by the practitioner and accompanied by the chöd drum and bell.  Tenzin Rinpoche will emphasize the core understanding of the principles and practice.

Along with his wonderful sense of humor, Rinpoche has a gift for making ancient wisdom accessible and relevant today. This retreat is open to everyone and has no prerequisites.

Please note: Retreat registration and hotel reservations are made separately.

Dates

• October 8, 2024: Afternoon check-in for retreat
• October 9-13, 2024: Chöd teachings
• October 14, 2024: A visit to Triten Norbutse Monastery, where we will visit the protector’s temple, participate in a tea offering for all the monks and enjoy lunch together. It is not certain at this time if Yongdzin Rinpoche will be in residence. If he is not there, we will pay respect to him by offering prostrations to his residence.

Registration Fee Includes

• Registration for the retreat – teachings from Wednesday morning, October 9 – midday on Sunday, October 13
• Vegetarian lunches 
• Morning and afternoon snacks on the days of the teachings
• Transportation from the retreat venue to and from Triten Norbutse Monastery on Monday, October 14

Registration fee Does Not Include

• Airfare
• Nepal visa
• Transportation within Kathmandu
• Dinners
• Airport to hotel transfers
• Sightseeing
• Offering (dana) to teachers

Retreat Location

The retreat will be held at the Siddhartha Boutique Hotel in Kathmandu. The hotel is about a 20 minute walk from the great  Boudhanath Stupa.

Hotel Reservations

The Siddhartha Boutique Hotel has a limited number of hotel rooms available to our group with arrival on Tuesday, October 8, and departure on Tuesday, October 15. We will fill the rooms on a first come, first served basis. Hotel rooms are for two or three people and have a private bath. To request a hotel reservation at the Siddhartha Hotel, please fill out this google form.
There are many nearby hotels available at a wide range of prices.

Practical Information

Please visit this link for a compilation of practical information on travel to Nepal:  Practical information for visiting Nepal

Looking for Travel Buddies? 

Would you like to travel to Nepal with someone? Or plan to go on a trek? After you have paid for the retreat registration, a link to a google form will be sent to you to share your travel details with others.

Cancellation Policy

Fee to cancel retreat registration before or on September 8: $150
Fee to cancel retreat registration after September 8: $250
We are unable to refund hotel reservations at Siddhartha Boutique Hotel made by Ligmincha.

We look forward to seeing you in Kathmandu, Nepal!